Planning an Active Directory Implementation
One of the first steps in setting up your server will be to configure Active Directory. Designing your Active Directory implementation is an important part of this process. A large company might spend months mapping out a strategy for implementing AD.
Active Directory is a directory service which contains structure and security for your domain. AD is a powerful directory service allowing you to record information about your users, groups, and environment.
The first step in implementation is to decide on a domain name for AD. We recommend not using an existing domain name if you have an existing directory service or Windows NT 4 domain. Using the same name can cause conflicts with clients while you are migrating to AD. You should develop a new name which reflects your company, location, or the fact that it is an AD network.
This domain name can be a true Internet domain name you register or a name which you use internally only.
Once you have decided on your domain name, you should begin the initial setup of the server. As we progress through the setup into other organizational containers, we will describe planning those out and designing your AD environment.
